Miranda
In-game knowledge * Obviously a rather young Kindred. Her looks and occasional pop culture references suggest that she was embraced sometime after the turn of the millennium. * Easily recognizable by pink hair, a pair of antlers, and a tendency to loudly speak her mind. * For the last five years or so, she has been affiliated with different domains in Hungary, although she has also frequently found the time to travel. Her country of origin appears to be Ireland; interestingly enough, that is the only place she really seems to try and stay away from. * Despite her age, she is remarkably well connected inside her own clan. She is even said to have called for a big clan meeting of European Gangrel recently, which was followed by Gangrel from all over the continent - Fledgelings and Neonates, Ancillae and Elders alike. * Speaking of clan Gangrel, she also claims to stick to the principle that her clan must always back each other up. Following through on that, she has frequently showed up in Zagreb to help out Sheriff Andrea Rossi whenever she needed support. * Isn’t it a little naïve for a Kindred to still believe in love? Well, probably just a folly of her youth. * She is fascinated with legends, fairy tales, myths and even modern urban legends. More so, she seems to firmly believe that there is some actual truth in most, if not all of them. There is something to be learned from every fairy tale and strange dream, just as there is something to be learned from every rumour. * For a vampire, she seems surprisingly... friendly. Always trying to find a peaceful solution to problems, always aiming to talk things out before using force, and very interested in the needs of others. Not your usual Gangrel approach, that much is certain - but then again, usually Gangrel aren’t exactly known for being as skilled with words as this one. * You can count on her if a Kindred falls into an unwanted Frenzy. Miranda has brought more than one citizen of the Imperium out of their deadly rage in a tense situation, including Branislav Vuk, Andrea Rossi and Malus. Her unconventional way of doing that - not by asserting dominance over another Kindred’s Beasts as it is usual in her clan, but rather by singing them to sleep - has gained her a joking reputation as the "Voice of Peace". * Her Sire is an Archon. And a dangerous person at that: As one of Gangrel Justicar Attila's generals, Heinrich Morgenstern was part of the hordes which eradicated most of clan Gangrel's Northern bloodline in Scandinavia not too long ago. Some say Heinrich was a calming influence on Attila and prevented a fair share of horrors from happening on those conquests, while others say he is one of the most striking examples of a truly monstrous Kindred, one who flays his enemies and wears the skin from their faces as a cloak to show off his most remarkable kills. Still, Miranda claims to love him. So much for her peaceful reputation. * Miranda herself has friends in high places too. Elders, Princes, even Archons of a few European domains have frequently been seen taking the time to talk to her in person, even well before she held any political rank. Apparently, she is in the good graces of the Serbian Spider Queen. Some say that even Attila, the current Gangrel Justicar, has considered Miranda's personal recommendation for two of the Archons he appointed at the Carpathian Conclave. And she has been seen having more than one very private chat with Emperor Darius. * She is into some kind of occult stuff. There is talk that some of the Hungarian Gangrel still practice shamanism, and this one seems to be especially involved in those beliefs, often telling stories about the spirits of the Earth and the Path of Stars. * She was appointed as one of Budapest’s Harpies in 2017, but that title seems to have a different meaning there than it does in Zagreb. Allegedly, Hungarian Harpies concern themselves more with protecting the Masquerade than with handling boons and awarding social status. * Nevertheless, it is no secret that Miranda also has a certain skill in collecting and spreading rumours, as the Croatian Harpies do. Just ask about what happened to the Prince of Pécs at the Croatian Conclave in 2017. * She obviously gets along well with many very different Kindred, but the strangest friendship of hers is probably that with the Tremere Primogen of Budapest. They could hardly be any more different, but somehow, they seem to have some kind of strong alliance or even genuine friendship with each other. * On her frequent visits to the Empire of Shadows, Miranda has proven herself as a helpful and dedicated ally on more than one occasion: ** In 2016, during the time of Željko "Žac" Lazić acting as Zagreb’s Sheriff, she supported him in gathering information on mortal Hunters, and later supported the domain of Zagreb in an attack on them. ** At the time of the Croatian Conclave in 2017, she played a key role in a fight against an ancient and powerful Necromancer, a brother of Acheron. Two Elders rewarded her with sizeable boons for single-handedly staking the Necromancer and cutting off his head, thereby saving the lives of multiple Kindred. ** With many others of her clan (and allegedly having been a driving factor in rallying the Gangrels' support) Miranda participated in cleansing Istria of a curse in the summer of 2018. ** She aided the domain of Zagreb in 2019 in their attack on the basis of Section 44, in which she directly put her own life on the line twice: once by pulling the Elder Sophia von Attems to safety from the line of fire, and once more by facing the frenzying Sheriff Andrea Rossi and calming her down before she could hurt any of her own allies. * In November 2018, she visited the court of Emona and publicly questioned whether a Blood Hunt on Žac called by Emperor Darius was valid in Emona, unless Emona considered itself a vassal domain to the Empire of Shadows. She somehow got away with it, but the black scar which appeared on her face shortly after does clearly scream ‘Lasombra punishment’. * She used to be close with the Gangrel Elder Christian von Eggenberg, also known as the Gallowglass, a long-time ally to the Imperium of Shadows and especially to Lasombra Elder Gabriel de Ortega. Since Gallowglass' death, she has often been seen wearing a leather jacket which strongly resembles the one he used to wear. The Harpy Rumors Fresh hearsay A View from Within Society has always run on stories. We used to share tribal legends around the campfire. We started making engravings into stone and clay, we developed writing, and ultimately noted down our historical records in order to teach the generations of our successors what to think about our actions. We shared our stories in the form of religious texts. Of novels. Theatre. Satire. Political propaganda. Radio shows and movies. Social media. All of them are really just means for us to share stories. And we can't help ourselves from sharing them and from listening, because human society has always run on stories, and it still does. Kindred society is by no means any different. We all want our meaningful tales to believe in, our saucy rumours to keep us entertained, our well-explained justifications to frame our actions into something we can live with, even take pride in. My own Clan especially loves those stories. We have great wars to tell about, magnificent heroes to praise, and remarkable bravery to be astounded by. What does that sound like? Nothing like me, to be honest. For a while, I have really been wondering why anyone would embrace a teenage gossip girl into this Clan of warriors and territorial Beasts. What good is a Gangrel who neither has particular talent for fighting, nor the stomach for it; who lacks the instinct to aggressively defend her territory and would rather share it with others; who feels sympathy and prefers to talk with those she should intimidate with a display of her strength? Why would anyone embrace such a vampire at all? It took a few years to understand. But even Gangrel need the structure of a Clan, and we are only connected through our stories. The Clan needs storytellers to keep us together; gardeners to preserve and build on our ancient knowledge; shamans to ritualize our interactions. Voices of peace to tell the old stories of war. Without that, even tales such as Attila's would be lost in time. And the Camarilla needs Kindred who prefer to talk instead of displaying their strength to keep itself running. The friends to remind you of your Humanity, and to keep us from becoming mere egoistic Beasts unfit to exist in a society. The trusted allies to turn to when a problem can't be solved alone. The gossip girls to know everybody's business, to make sure nobody steps out of line unseen. The Harpies. Of all Clans, to be watchful from every possile perspective. As little as I may live up to my Clan's reputation, they do need me. Because society has always run on stories.